Credit Suisse (Sydney Branch) has tapped the local bond market for the first time in four years, raising A1.25 billion through a dual tranche offering a $650 million five-year fixed rate tranche paying a semi-annual coupon of four per cent, and a $600 million five-year floating rate tranche, priced at 103 basis points over the three-month bank bill swap rate. Credit Suisse AG, Sydney Branch, is rated A by Standard & Poor's, A1 by Moody's and A by Fitch. Overnight (Australian time), Bloomberg reported that CIMB Group Holdings had approval from the Malaysian central bank to begin merger discussions with RHB Capital and Malaysia Building Society. The companies, which have a combined market value of about US$28 billion, announced a 90-day exclusive agreement to negotiate and finalise the price and structure of the merger, including the creation of a mega Islamic bank. ANZ holds 24 per cent of AmBank Group, which claims to be "one of the largest banking groups in Malaysia by market capitalisation", and now risks being crowded out of that market. Standard & Poor's said its ratings for Commonwealth Bank of Australia (AA-/Stable/A-1+) remain unaffected by the Senate Economic References Committee's inquiry findings and recommendations on CBA's financial planning business "at this point in time". S&P said it was "unlikely" that any monetary compensation paid to customers under the bank's Open Advice Review program would be large enough to affect CBA's stand-alone credit profile factors.